EASTPORT – Aquaculture flew under the radar for its first 20 years on the Maine coast. Fish farms appeared, created jobs, and quietly grew into a $75 million business.

But in the last decade, the state’s hands-off approach has resulted in a string of nationally publicized lawsuits, court-ordered restrictions, and a culture of mistrust.

Fed up with the increasingly polarized debate, lawmakers on the state Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee this spring created a task force to tackle what is for Maine’s economy, a multimillion-dollar question: What role should aquaculture play?

On Thursday and Friday, the 11 members of the governor’s task force held their first meeting at Washington County Community College in Eastport and began drafting a plan for the state’s future.

“Collectively, as residents of Maine, we haven’t answered the question – what do we want? How do we want the coast of Maine to look in 15 or 20 years?” said task force member Anne Hayden, who works for Bigelow Laboratory.

The group also includes; Chairman Paul Anderson of Maine Sea Grant, Brian Beal of the University of Maine at Machias, Jim Dow of Blue Hill Heritage Trust, Des FitzGerald formerly of Ducktrap River Fish Farm, F. Paul Frinsko of the Atlantic Salmon Commission, Will Hopkins of Cobscook Bay Resource Center, Don Perkins of the Gulf of Maine Marine Research Institute, Van Perry of the Finance Authority of Maine, Josie Quintrell of the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System, and Jim Salisbury of the Portland Fish Exchange.

Task force members come from fisheries, from government and from academia. However, none have been directly involved in the impassioned debates surrounding aquaculture’s environmental and economic impacts, said Marine Resources Commissioner George LaPointe.

“We wanted to get people who were good problem solvers … who could rise above the fray,” he said.

A second group of appointed “advisers” from industry and environmental interest groups will be intimately involved in the process, however. As roles were being defined Thursday, aquaculture and conservation interests drew the proceedings into exactly the type of polarized discussion that the task force was created to avoid. Thus, the group decided to limit the advisers’ role to providing information only when requested.

During an informal poll Thursday, all of the task force’s members said they believe aquaculture has a place in Maine – it’s finding the right role that’s going to be a challenge.

“Aquaculture is here and it’s not going away,” Salisbury said.

The task force heard expert presentations on management strategies in Ireland and Canada, and members toured Cobscook Bay fish farms to learn about interactions between wild and farmed Atlantic salmon.

However, getting a handle on the daunting task ahead dominated the discussion.

“We’re all here because there’s a perception … that things are broken,” Beal said.

Some said the task force was created to handle myriad issues that legislators dealing with a budget deficit had no time – or perhaps desire – to resolve.

“The Legislature had been flummoxed for the past two sessions. They felt that we’d reached a crossroads,” said David Etnier, a deputy commissioner for DMR who serves as the department’s legislative liaison.

The task force has been asked to consider aquaculture lease locations, environmental issues and detailed state regulation, as well as the philosophical question of how to make aquaculture fit “seamlessly” with commercial fishing and tourism. Recommendations to the Legislature are due by the end of the year.

One member called the task “obnoxious.”

“I’m very concerned that we’re going to be a slave to our agenda and end up with milquetoast at the end,” said Perkins of the Gulf of Maine Marine Research Institute.

On Friday, the group decided to create a vision for aquaculture in Maine, then develop policy recommendations as they become necessary to refine and apply the ideal.

“Are we going to fix every issue? No,” Commissioner LaPointe said. “But we want to be sure that we make changes, that we don’t just shift a logjam from one spot to another.”

The task force’s next meeting will take place Thursday, Sept. 4, and Friday, Sept. 5, at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole. This session will focus on Maine’s shellfish aquaculture industry, which is centered on the Damariscotta River. The public is invited to all meetings but may not participate.